Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy's counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other's trust, and come to see that what they've been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong.

With incredible empathy, intelligence, and candor, Jodi Picoult tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice, and compassion—and doesn't offer easy answers. Small Great Things is a remarkable achievement from a writer at the top of her game.

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Goodreads Choice Award:

Nominee for Readers' Favorite Fiction (2016)

Angela's Review:

Picoult writes gripping novels that create fiction from current social issues and weaves a story through use of first person narrative of multiple relatable characters. I typically enjoy her novels, but at the same time I find that they sometimes challenge me as a human being.

This time she was taking on racism in America. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Was this really her story to tell, as a white woman? I struggled with this for a good portion of the novel until I realized that the book was about Ruth, the black nurse who is charged with murder. That is not all it was about, though. It was about all of us, our biases, and -- yes-- our racism.

I have to admit that at times it made me uncomfortable as I was reading it. Uncomfortable because I was forced to recognize my own shortcomings. This book made me realize that my effort to treat everyone with the same level of respect regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or any other stereotypical label that might apply, is not enough. I have white privilege that is part of my life and failure to recognize that privilege may be hurting others.

I'm not sure this is a book that I can say I enjoyed. It is an important book, though, on a tough topic. I give this one 4.5 stars.